The Reason it is cheaper the +300% Cosmic, is it hits every thing in the area wither you want to or not, the the very least it is extensive coloratura property damage, if not allies or innocents, All taking the full damage that you're tring to hit your target with.

where the Cosmic one only the target is getting hit by the precision shot, unless less you over penetrate.

Except you can take Selective for your Area attack, which does exactly what you're describing - allows you to hit just the targets you want, without damaging allies or property. And under the default rules, it still restricts active defenses in the same manner as a normal Area attack. It's far cheaper than Cosmic, too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sdrolion

For anyone interested: my opinion, in general, on this is that AE is overpowered for its price: the default meaning of AE should probably be more along the lines of the multi-target attack, above: it just attacks everything in the area with a single attack roll, and they get to defend as normal for a ranged innate attack. That, in my mind, is more than enough value for +50% per level. Then, if someone wants to do a "fills the area" type, that could raise the cost (I'd say at least +100%, but honestly, I could see going further if you're actually going to almost completely disable active defense with this thing--though it should still be lower than the full +300% for disables Active Defense, as there are indeed some types that work against it: cover, getting out of the area, and certain power-based defenses.).

What you're describing is the Bombardment limitation (pg 111). You could easily rule that it is the default for Area (and possibly Cone) attacks, granting no extra points.